With Twelfth Hour Love

From The Catholic Thing:

Those who suffered for their beliefs in these places of infamy, including the Tyburn martyrs and St. Maximilian Kolbe, have long since gone before us. Silenced for their beliefs by regimes much stronger than their poor capacity to resist, their voices should have been extinguished forever. These simple markers should be the only remnant of their overpowered and seemingly futile witness. 

And yet, it is the tyrants and regimes themselves which have fallen away, powerless and defeated. The gates to Auschwitz-Birkenau today swing open, empty and deserted. The all-encompassing power that manned the guard towers and supervised the trains has long since passed away. The gates of Hampton Court now welcome day visitors, its hallowed tenant, Henry VIII, reduced to empty legend. But the gates of Tyburn Convent joyfully welcome consecrated souls offering their lives in prayer for that Faith and Truth, which all the King’s horses and all the Queen’s men could never conquer. 

The crypt of Tyburn Convent houses the Martyr’s Chapel, a stunning collection of precious relics of the brave men and women – lay faithful, priests, and religious, who preserved the Faith in England under the reign of terror. Among the quotes inscribed upon the crypt walls are words spoken by Carthusian Prior John Houghton. “I am bound in conscience, and am ready and willing to suffer every kind of torture rather than deny a doctrine of the Church,” he declared from the scaffold of Tyburn Hill, London, on May 4, 1535. 

From his cell in Bell Tower, St. Thomas More, himself soon to be martyred, famously witnessed the procession to Tyburn of these Carthusian martyrs, noting to his daughter Margaret, “these blessed fathers be now as cheerfully going to their deaths as bridegrooms to a marriage.” (Read more.)

The Latest at Akita

The apparitions at Akita have been approved by the Catholic Church. More about them, HERE and HERE. A few weeks ago, Sr Agnes said she received another message, HERE. From Fr. Richard Heilman:

Reports have come in, especially today, that Sr. Agnes Sasagawa of Akita received the following message on October 6. This was on the opening day of the Amazon Synod (I believe this is not accidental), and the first message since the 1970s …“Put on ashes and pray for a repentant rosary every day.” I believe the first part, “Put on ashes,” is not meant that we are, literally, to walk around with ashes on. But, is meant to place ourselves in the same penitential mode we do as we begin Lent every year. In other words, a state of mortification and humility. 

The second part, “pray for a repentant rosary every day,” is best translated as pray a rosary for repentance and reparation every day. Many of us prayed in this way shortly after the sex abuse crisis broke in the Church, in August of 2018. While we still lack a solid verification of this message to Sr. Agnes, I believe it. Or, at least, I believe the need for a call for all of us to do the “Nineveh Thing.” Personally, I don’t think the world and the Church have ever been so disengaged from the will of God as we are today, especially when one considers the acceleration of sin by way of modern mass communication, especially the internet. People are being indoctrinated into abandoning God and His will at an alarming rate. (Read more.)

All Hallows' Eve

For the ancient Celts, November 1 was Samhain, their New Year's day. It is not necessary to detail some of the more gruesome pagan customs which accompanied the festivities in pre-Christian times, customs which eventually disappeared as the Faith spread and took hold. Nevertheless, on a more positive note, the Celts believed that on the day in question the veil between the worlds grew thin, and one could easily pass from world to world, from time into eternity.

As Christians, in celebrating the Solemnity of All Saints, the sacred liturgy permits us to glimpse the place where the blessed ones dwell in light. We are led to think of all the dead, of the awe-inspiring realities of death, judgment, heaven and hell. On All Souls' Day we recall those who are still undergoing purgation in the realm beyond time. We, too, through the Mass and through prayer, pass from world to world, for all are present to God.

Here is an article (via A Conservative Blog for Peace) which elucidates on the history of All Hallows' Eve, the pagan versus Christian aspects and how the Irish, French, Germans, and English brought it all to North America. To quote:

Halloween can still serve the purpose of reminding us about Hell and how to avoid it. Halloween is also a day to prepare us to remember those who have gone before us in Faith, those already in Heaven and those still suffering in Purgatory. The next time someone claims Halloween is a cruel trick to lure our children into devil worship, I suggest you tell them the real origin of Halloween and let them know about its Catholic roots and significance. (By Fr Scott Archer)

Pope Leo XIII's Prayer to St. Joseph

While Pope Leo XIII's prayer to St. Michael is known, his prayer to St. Joseph has been almost forgotten. The pontiff intended it to be recited after the Holy Rosary, especially in the month of October. (Via East of the Sun, West of the Moon.)

Bring Back the Saint Michael Prayer

From The Irish Catholic:

When I spoke about my book Freedom from Evil Spirits on the Late Late Show in February, I said to Ryan Tubridy that there are reasons in contemporary Ireland to think that a tsunami of evil is threatening to overwhelm us.

Aware that this is so, it is not surprising that recent Popes have encouraged Catholics to recite the prayer to St Michael in private. In 1994 St John Paul II said: “May prayer to St Michael strengthen us for the spiritual battle that the Letter to the Ephesians speaks of: ‘be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might’.” (Eph. 6:10)

Leo XIII certainly had this picture in mind when, at the end of the last century, he brought in throughout the Church a special prayer to St Michael. Although this prayer is no longer recited at the end of Mass, I ask everyone not to forget it and to recite it to obtain help in the battle against the forces of darkness and against the spirit of this world. (Read more.)

Monsieur Vincent et Mère Mectilde

From Vultus Christi:

When they returned to Saint-Mihiel, it was obvious to all who saw Mother Mectilde and her two companions that they had received extraordinary graces; they seemed transfigured. Much later, Mother Mectilde let slip a few words that intimated that, in the sanctuary of Benoîte-Vaux, Our Lady revealed to her God’s designs on her life. A few days later, a commissary of Monsieur Vincent, named Mathieu Renard, asked to see the prioress and, with no preliminaries, said, “I have come, Mother, to take two of your religious to Montmartre, I have orders to do this, and Madame the Duchess of Aiguillon has provided me with money for the journey.” What happened at Montmartre that caused the Abbess to have so complete a change of heart? On the very night that Mother Mectilde and her companions were praying at the sanctuary of Benoîte-Vaux, the Lady Abbess of Montmartre woke up all of a sudden and summoned the two religious who slept in her bedchamber to look after her in illness. The Abbess was in a dreadful state of fright. She said that it seemed to her that she saw the Most Holy Virgin and her Divine Son reproaching her for her lack of hospitality to the poor homeless Benedictines in the Lorraine; they threatened her with a rigourous judgment should they, through her fault, perish in their misery and need. The next day the Abbess convened her senior religious; all agreed that they had to execute the manifest will of God. (Read more.)

Always Wear Your Scapular

From Aleteia:

One day a French priest on pilgrimage was walking to the local church to celebrate Mass. As he was near the church the priest realized he forgot something. While putting on his clothes in the morning, the priest had forgotten his Brown Scapular that typically went underneath his clothing.
This disturbed him and he couldn’t think of offering Mass without honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Brown Scapular. However, he would be late for Mass if he went back to his lodging. The priest decided to run back and put on his scapular, preferring to celebrate Mass with his scapular.

The booklet, Garment of Grace, narrates what happens next.

Later, as he was offering the Holy Sacrifice, a young man approached the altar, pulled out a gun, and shot the priest in the back. To the amazement of all, the priest continued to say the prayers of the Mass as though nothing had occurred. It was at first presumed that the bullet had miraculously missed its target. However, upon examination, the bullet was found ADHERING TO THE LITTLE BROWN SCAPULAR which the priest had so obstinately refused to be without. 

The story does not have any other details, such as the name of the priest, date or location, but it is not the first time that someone was saved from a bullet by a holy item they were wearing (such as a World War I soldier who was saved by his Bible). It highlights the faith of the individual and how their faith literally saved them from danger. While these stories do not guarantee someone will be saved if they wear something holy, it does reinforce the need to have an authentic faith in God, trusting that he will protect them during their time of need. If we have an authentic trust in God, anything is possible. (Read more.)